Iraq In Crisis

All Hell is breaking loose in Iraq!

U.S. Bombs Basra to Support Iraqi Forces
(Iraqi forces battling Shiite miliias, Dozens of Iraqi police desert to join Mehdi Army in Sadr City!)

Bush Says Iraq Returning to Normal!
President Bush, saying that "normalcy is returning back to Iraq," argued Thursday that last year's U.S. troop "surge" has improved Iraq's security to the point where political and economic progress are blossoming as well."

What Has Bush Done to Our Economy?

For a good overview of the damage George W. Bush has done to the U.S. economy, check out this article by Nobel laureate Joseph E. Siglitz in Vanity Fair: The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush. (Hint: record deficits, poverty, declining dollar, bankruptcy, foreclosures, etc....) What a mess the next President will have to clean up after! (Maybe it would be better if the Republicans won the Presidency one more term so they can get blamed for it and can't blame a Democratic President for it all, like they did Carter).

Dems Cave to Bush on Spending Bill

Bush has a 35% approval rating, and the Dems Cave to Bush on Spending Bill? Bush gets almost everything he wants? More funds for the war, no timetables, etc. etc...

Pelosi and Reid need to quit now! The Democratic Party needs new, stronger leadership!

Bush Losing Support of Military Families

Bush Approval Among Military Families Down 50% since 2004 Most disapprove of Bush & the War, more favor Democrats than Republicans to support veterans.

Olbermann: Bush/Cheney Should Resign!

Another excellent Keith Olbermann Special Commentary on Why Bush and Cheney should Resign!

Libby Gets Off

George Bush has commuted the sentence of Lewis "Scotter" Libby today That's the same Bush guy who refused to commute the death sentences of poor, mentally retarded people in Texas. Remember the Righteous Republican Indignation about Bill Clinton's little lie? Conservatives cannot pardon lying about blow jobs, but they sure turn their snake eyes away from lies about illegal wars and lies to cover up crimes by Bush & Cheney in outing CIA agents who are wives of critics of their illegal war. Will Bush & Cheney ever answer for their crimes? It is time to IMPEACH BUSH & CHENEY

Congress and Bush Fail Country

Poor George Bush's approval ratings have been on a steady decline for sometime, but now the "Democratic" Congress is joining him down in the low approval ratings. Approval of Congress is at its lowest in a decade, now even lower than Bush's approval rating! Why? Marianna Huffington correctly blames Tyrannosaurus Democrats. As I predicted, Nancy Pelosi and and the "moderate" Democratic leaders would fail to live up to the expectations of voters by not being tough enough in taking on Bush, the military, business and the other "special interests" that control Washington. It has been business a usual. And the main reason for the low approval of Congress must be the failure of the Democrats to stop Bush's illegal occupation of Iraq. The D. C. Democrats have failed to respond to the base of the Democratic Party, and the majority of Americans, and end the Iraq military occupation. By providing Bush & Co. with more funds, they must now join with Bush in owning the illegal war they approved and funded. And as I predicted, Pelosi is a disappointment.

Bush Approval Rating Sinks but Will it Help Dems in 08?

George Bush's approval rating has sunk to 28% according to a new Newsweek Poll, and it seems to be dragging down the whole GOP. The poll also shows every Democratic candidate beating the Republicans in 2008. However, Hillary Clinton seems to be the one hope the Republicans have of winning. She does worse than any other Democratic candidate, barely edging out a Republican opponent. So why is she the leading Democratic candidate among Democrats?

"The NEWSWEEK Poll finds each of the leading Democratic contenders beating the Republican frontrunners in head-to-head matchups....

"Though the New York senator and former first lady aims to project an aura of inevitability that she will win the Democratic nomination, Obama beats the leading Republicans by larger margins than any other Democrat: besting Giuliani 50 to 43 percent, among registered voters; beating McCain 52 to 39 percent, and defeating Romney 58 percent to 29 percent.

"Like Obama, Edwards defeats the Republicans by larger margins than Clinton does: the former Democratic vice-presidential nominee outdistances Giuliani by six points, McCain by 10 and Romney by 37, the largest lead in any of the head-to-head matchups. Meanwhile, Sen. Clinton wins 49 percent to 46 percent against Giuliani, well within the poll’s margin of error; 50 to 44 against McCain; and 57 to 35 against Romney.

"Where Clinton remains the undisputed champ is among Democrats. When matched against her main rivals for the Democratic nomination, Clinton is the choice of 51 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters over Obama’s 39 percent; and she defeats Edwards 57 percent to 38 percent. Obama has not substantially narrowed Clinton’s lead since the early March NEWSWEEK poll, where he trailed Clinton by 14 points. Edwards has narrowed Clinton’s lead over him though. Back in March Edwards trailed Clinton by 31 points; now her lead is down to 19 points."

Wake up Dems! We have a good chance of winning in 2008, but NOT with Hillary Clinton! Her negatives are too high among most voters, especially independents and "swing voters" and she would probably loose in the general election because of all her baggage (i.e., "hillary health care", Bill and Monica, etc.) Many Democrats I know even say THEY will not vote for her! Our best chance is a new face, like Obama or Edwards.

Bush/GOP Pander to Christo-Fascists

The U.S. House passed the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" Today, and the White House wasted no time dismissing the law and threatening a Presidential Veto, Bush's 3rd Veto in his two terms. The Republicans are pandering to the anti-gay Christo-fascists (Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Focus on the Family, etc.) who do not want ANY government recognition of the civil rights of gays and lesbians which would legitimate our citizenship in the United States. Amazingly, many religious fundamentalists, including a group of African-American pastors, are actively opposing including gays and lesbians in the hate crime law arguing that the law would impose upon their freedom to preach against homosexuality! James Dobson's Focus on the Family and other anti-gay extremist groups have been spreading a BIG LIE that the hate crimes law would outlaw their religious beliefs and freedom to speak against homosexuality. (The law explicitly defends freedom of speech, and only applies to cases in which CRIMES are committed against individuals based on the gender identity or sexual orientation!)

(BTW, the Memphis CBS station, WREG CH. 3, ran a story last night in which they repeated much of the anti-gay religious opposition to the bill without giving any FACTS about the bill. Most of the story was an interview with a black preacher who opposed equating homosexuality with civil rights, and said the law would prohibit him from preaching against homosexuality. That was a LIE. WREG gave NO factual information about what the bill actually said, and gave only a few short minutes to local gay activist Herb Zeman who was not able to counter all the misinformation in the story.) I think we need to contact their station to point out how biased the story was and how they failed to inform the public of the FACTS about the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act!)

If you could not stomach watching the first Republican debate tonight on MSNBC, here's an excerpt in which Tommy Thompson says it is OK for employers to FIRE someone just for being gay!
Republican Debate: Thompson Says Employers Should Allowed to Fire Gays
And as expected, the leading GOP candidates pandered to the religious extremist base of the Republican Party by opposing abortion and gay rights, and each supported the illegal Bush invasion and occupation of Iraq. While they supported the impeachment of Bill Clinton, none were asked about whether they would support the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for their crimes. To learn more about the REAL Republican candidates, check out the DNC Report on the Republican Candidates

Mission Impossible

It's the Fourth Anniversary of George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech, and he continues to lie. Today he vetoed the funding bill Congress sent to him because it included a "nonbinding" resolution with a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops in a year. Using Orwellian logic, Bush and the GOP are accusing the Democrats of witholding funds to the military and U.S. troops, even though it is BUSH who is blocking the funding bill, NOT the Democrats.

Following the Karl Rove/GOP playbook, Rudy Giuliani warned that if the Democrats win in 2008, they will retreat from the "war on terrorism" and put the U.S. on the defensive rather than an offensive position on the "war on terror." How can Bush and the GOP keep getting away with this BIG LIE. Do we have to remind them and the American people that it was BUSH and the GOP who allowed the terrorist attack on 9/11 to take place? Richard Clarke and several other former members of the Bush adminstration have testified that BUSH did not even discuss terrorism before 9/11! Cheney's terrorism task force NEVER MET! Bush ignored repeated warnings from the intelligence community about a terrorist attack. BUSH, was the President almost a year before 9/11 and HE failed to protect and defend the U.S., and he has used 9/11 and the perpetual "war on terror" to gain "political capital." Bush and the GOP have weakened the U.S. military, and have aided the growth of terrorism world wide. Terrorism has INCREASED in Iraq since the illegal U.S. invasion and occupation. Bush is a LIAR. He has used the military and U.S. troops and they have paid the price for his incompetence.

Mission Accomplished.

Bush/Cheney Threaten to Cut Off U.S. Troops

While Darth Vice Cheney Accuses Democrats of Undermining U.S. Troops in Iraq, the fact is that it is CHENEY AND BUSH who have undermined our troops and the U.S. Military. The Democratic House and Senate have passed a bill to provide the funding Bush requested for the war in Iraq, but set a timetable to withdraw the troops in 2008. While many progressive/anit-war Democrats were upset that the Democratic congress approved the funding, the political reality is that Bush/Cheney would have used such a vote to accuse the Democrats of not supporting the troops. By aproving the funding with conditions for withdrawal, the Democrats have now put Bush in the position of vetoing the bill, and thus cutting off funds for the war, or signing off on the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2008. Depending out how you look at it, Pelosi and the Democrats may have the upper hand on this one by siding with the majority of the American people who favor the withdrawal, but do not want to cutt off the funding for the military right now. Time will tell if this was the right thing to do, but it will be interesting to watch how Cheney & Bush will try to accuse the Democrats of not supporting the troops while Bush vetos the bill to provide the funds the military requested. Maybe, for once, the Democrats have outmaneuvered the Republicans.

Bush's America: Record Numbers Plunged into Poverty

According to a report released by McClatchy Newspapers Saturday, In U.S., Record Numbers are Plunged into Poverty The analysis of the report shows that:
almost 16 million Americans live in "deep or severe poverty" (defined as a family of four with 2 children earning less than $9,903--half the federal poverty line. For individuals the "deep poverty"threshold was an income under $5,080 a year.
The number of severly poor Americans grew by 26% from 2000 to 2005, 55% faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period.
This surve in poverty has taken place alongside an unusal economic expansion in which worker productivity increased dramatically since the recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. The share of national income going to corporate profit, on the other hand, has drwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries. "These and other factors have helped push 43% of the nation's 37 million poor people into deep poverty--the highest rate since 1975." The report notes that social programs in the U.S. are minimal compared to those of Western Europe and Canada. The U.S. has a population of 301 million people, with 37 million poor people, and 45 million U.S. citizens have no health insurance.

Maybe the U.S. media will take some time off the dead body of Ana Nicole Smith and Britney Spear's bald head and cover this story--the social and economic decay of the American working class under George W. Bush!

State of the Union

Bush will continue to blow smoke up our ass tonight, so to get the true State of the Union, visit the Center for American Progress Special Report: What Bush will Say, What You Need to Know

It's time: IMPEACH BUSH

Ok, the election is over and Bush has just given his anticipated speech calling not only for an escalation of the illegal Iraq military occupation, but threatening to take on Iran as well. He has ignored the advice of the military, he is either a cold blooded war criminal determined to do whatever it takes to "win" in Iraq, or he is a delusional, crazy lunatic. Either way, he must be stopped. The Democrats must stop the "bi-partisan" niceties and begin impeachment hearings. They must exercise all of their Constitutional authority to end the illegal military occupation and bring our troops home NOW! Anti-war groups are organizing anti-war rallies and marches. It is time to take to the streets and call our Democratic representatives and demand action to end the war and move forward with impeachment hearings to prosecute George Bush and Dick Cheney. Go to Impeach Bush.org and Vote No War, join groups like Move On and let's try to save this country from fascism!
Don't wait for the moderate Democratic Party leaders to take action, we don't follow them, they must follow us!

Another Bush Lie: Photo Shows Bush & Abramoff

Campaign photo shows Bush with Abramoff
By Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press

January 8, 2007

WASHINGTON - A liberal watchdog group published on its Web site Monday a picture of President Bush and imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the kind of photo the White House has refused to release.

The picture was taken at a campaign fundraiser in December 2003, according to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. It was taken by a private photo contractor who posted it on a Web site, but then was removed before it made it into distribution, said Melanie Sloan, CREW's director.

A previous photo of Bush and the disgraced lobbyist surfaced last year but Abramoff was in the background, slightly blurry.

"This is the one they didn't want you to see," Sloan said.

Kim Eisler, Washingtonian magazine writer and a friend of Abramoff's, confirmed the photo's authenticity for The Associated Press. He said he had seen the picture at Abramoff's house.

The White House did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Abramoff helped raise more than $100,000 for Bush's 2004 re-election campaign. He is serving nearly six years in prison for a fraudulent Florida casino deal and is cooperating with the FBI in a bribery investigation involving members of Congress and the Bush administration.


ON THE NET

Citizens for Respsonsibility & Ethics in Washington